Prospekt of the 25th of October, Leningrad. April 1943 / Nevsky prospekt, St. Petesburg. July 25th, 2022
Fence around the excavation works on the extraction of an unexploded bomb on the Prospekt of the 25th of October.
From the diary of Gorshkov Nikolay Pavlovich (1892-1951). Accountant. Arrested on political charges, died in prison:
"On Nevsky prospekt, in between Marat street and Pushkinskaya street, works on the extraction of an air bomb dropped by the Fascists during their raid on March 23/24 were carried out. Right after the fall of the dud bomb a fence was put up with "Danger! Move slower! Unexploded bomb" written all over it. The bomb fell on the traffic lane between tram rails and the pavement." The excavation was carried out with great caution for about 3 weeks. The bomb broke through the asphalt and its concrete base, burrowing down into the ground and failing to explode.
Starting from 14.00 today all traffic along Nevsky prospekt in the sector between Moskovsky train station and Volodarsky (Liteiny) prospekt was stopped. Police cordons don't let anyone through. Residents of nearby houses were moved deeper into the buildings or to other, more remote houses. Today the bomb should be extracted to the surface and disarmed. Trams full of people, trucks and passenger cars and pedestrians have been moving past this fenced off site with a warning writing on it, but everyone paid little regard to the threat of explosion as the war taught them to scorn dangers, especially such hidden ones. At the start of the war anyone would have made a kilometer-long detour around such place."